Methods and systems for technology analysis and mapping

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for cladistics-based content searching, analysis, and/or diagrammatic representation of results in graphical user interface format for viewing by at least one user on a computer-type device or network, in particular for technology and patent-related content stored in at least one database.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This non-provisional utility patent application claims the benefit of one or more prior filed U.S. provisional applications, a reference to each such prior application is identified as follows: Ser. No. 60/452,029 filed Mar. 5, 2003; Ser. No. 60/510,734 filed Oct. 11, 2003; and Ser. No. 60/527,788 filed Dec. 8, 2003.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to automated work processes and, more particularly, to a automated searching of databases for content, including but not limited to technology, inventions, patents, and patent-related information and/or documents.

(2) Description of the Prior Art

Database searching can be divided into two major types of searching—non-patent legal database searching and patent legal database searching.

Non-patent legal database searching, for whom the computerized search engines where first designed, is directed toward the task of extracting few, precise records. These queries and searches engines are designed to bring out the fewest documents possible to fulfill the needs of the searcher. This type of prior art searching requires that the user submit keywords to a search engine to get a single set of results. The user can use Boolean operators, such as AND, OR, ANDNOT (also NOT), etc. to more precisely define the search. The user can also weight keywords such that the results are ranked. However, neither increasing the precision of the search nor ranking the results ensures the thoroughness of the search and, in fact, both methods are designed to reduce the number of returned records.

In contrast, prior art searching for patent legal needs is designed to be thorough to ensure that the invention is novel and non-obvious. The traditional method is to search through all the records in the classes to which an invention may belong. This method is thorough, but is laborious and time-consuming. Additionally, other sources of prior art exist that are not classified and patent databases per se are becoming to large to be searched by this method. Persons wishing to search these databases in a timely manner frequently construct one or more queries to thoroughly cover the invention field. However, these search methods are idiosyncratic and not generally executed according to a predetermined method. The thoroughness of the search must therefore be closely evaluated each time.

Thus, a need exists for database content searching, particular for technology, patent, and/or prior art searching methods and systems that are precise and thorough, easily evaluated and supervised, and which minimizes the number of records that an examiner must review to perform a precise and thorough examination. In addition, a need exists for a method of displaying the large amounts of data in a single view while allowing examination of individual records, such that the user or viewer can assess the technology field density and inspect individual records from the same view.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to systems and methods for cladistics-based content searching, analysis, and/or diagrammatic representation of results in graphical user interface format for viewing by at least one user on a computer-type device or network, in particular for technology and patent-related content stored in at least one database.

Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention is to provide a method of analyzing inventions, including the steps of:

-   a) deconstructing at least one invention into its corresponding key     components; -   b) formulating a first database query that searches for at least one     of the key components in a database and at least one additional     related database query that excludes at least one component from the     database; -   c) submitting the queries to search a database; -   d) retrieving the results from the queries; -   e) displaying the results in a graphical user interface of an     electronic device or network of devices, thereby providing a method     for automatically analyzing inventions.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method of graphically displaying relationships between inventions, including the steps of:

-   a) sorting the inventions into groups according to a predetermined     criteria -   b) displaying the groups in an unrooted tree.

Still another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method of querying a patent database for prior art relating to an invention, the steps of:

-   a) deconstructing the invention into key components -   b) formulating a database query that searches for all the components     in, the claims database field and -   c) formulating database queries with serial ANDNOT exclusion of at     least one component from the claims field and inclusion of the at     least one component in the specification field.     Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for     analyzing technology trends, including the steps of applying     cladistics to patent data.

Yet another aspect and embodiments of the present invention include systems for analyzing technology including at least one database having technology information electronically stored thereon; at least one computer running software for querying the database; the at least one computer connected to the database, either directly or via a network; wherein the software permits the querying to be done using a cladistics-based model, wherein at least one user is capable of searching the information in the database and reviewing search results presented in a graphical representation on a user interface of the at least one computer, in particular where the graphical representation is a tree diagram.

These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after a reading of the following description of the preferred embodiment when considered with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view of a tree map constructed according to one format of mapping.

FIG. 2 is a radial tree map with scaled branches.

FIG. 3 is a radial map of a prior art search according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a radial map of an ANDNOT prior art search showing nearest synapomorphic competitors.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a screen view of an automated system according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a screen view of an automated system according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a screen view of an automated system according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a screen view of an automated system according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a screen view of an automated system according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a screen view of an automated system according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a screen view of an automated system according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a screen view of an automated system according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a screen view of an automated system according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following description, like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views. Also in the following description, it is to be understood that such terms as “forward,” “rearward,” “front,” “back,” “right,” “left,” “upwardly,” “downwardly,” and the like are words of convenience and are not to be construed as limiting terms.

Referring now to the drawings in general, the illustrations are for the purpose of describing a preferred embodiment of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention thereto.

The present invention uses techniques and methodologies developed to analyze evolutionary relationships among living and fossil organisms for the analysis of the relationship of intellectual assets, including but not limited to ideas, inventions, and/or documents, e.g., patent applications, patent and technical publications, and issued patents and the like. The field of cladistics is a method of analyzing the evolutionary relationships between groups to construct their family tree. The principle behind cladistics is that organisms should be classified according to their evolutionary relationships, and that the way to discover these relationships is to analyze what are called primitive and derived characters. The present invention uses characters of the invention, also called components, elements, or functions, as the analog to organism characters; in the following description, discussion of cladistics and evolutionary biology are used as an analogy or parallel for similar methodologies applied to technology and intellectual assets. As such, any substitution of intellectual assets elements or components for biological characters and/or characteristics is appropriate in describing the present invention. However, significantly the direct application of cladistics software and/or methodologies must be adapted and modified in order to function effectively in an intellectual assets environment for research and analysis thereof. It is important to recognize that the invention, for example, must be broken into its functional components in order to be analyzed by a cladistics-based methodology; this selection is critical for an effective analysis of the invention and comparison with other inventions in a related field.

The real merit of cladistic methods is in their use of shared derived characters to unite groups and in the ability of the computer to handle large batches of data. Using cladistics methods, inventions can likewise be grouped and relationships between the objects studied, which in the case of the present invention may include at least one of the following and/or combinations thereof: ideas, inventions, disclosure documents, patent applications, patent publications, issued patents, technical publications or documents, and the like.

Cladistics is a particular method of hypothesizing relationships among organisms. In the case of the present invention, cladistics-like methodologies are applied to intellectual asset research and analysis by substituting at least one of the following and/or combinations thereof: ideas, inventions, disclosure documents, patent applications, patent publications, issued patents, technical publications or documents, and the like, in the place of each organism and/or gene sequence. Like other methods, it has its own set of assumptions, procedures, and limitations. The basic idea behind cladistics is that members of a group share a common evolutionary history, and are “closely related”, more so to members of the same group than to other organisms; similarly, the present invention employs cladistics-like methodologies to explore and analyze evolutionary patterns within intellectual asset groups and/or subgroups. These groups are recognized by sharing unique features which were not present in distant ancestors. These shared derived characteristics are called synapomorphies. Note that it is not enough for organisms to share characteristics, in fact two organisms may share a great many characteristics and not be considered members of the same group. For example, consider a jellyfish, starfish, and a human, and consider which two are most closely related. The jellyfish and starfish both live in the water, have radial symmetry, and are invertebrates, so you might suppose that they belong together in a group. This would not reflect evolutionary relationships, however, since the starfish and human are actually more closely related. It is not just the presence of shared characteristics which is important, but the presence of shared derived characteristics. In the example above, all three characteristics are believed to have been present in the common ancestor of all animals, and so are trivial for determining relationships, since all three organisms in question belong to the group “animals”. While humans are different from the other two organisms, they differ only in characteristics which arose newly in an ancestor which is not shared with the other two. Therefore, choosing the right characters is one of the most important steps in a cladistic analysis. Similarly, selecting the appropriate key components and elements, and related subcomponents or subelements, sub-subcomponents or sub-subelements, etc. is one of the most important steps in cladistic-like intellectual asset research and analysis, according to the present invention.

In the analyses of intellectual assets, including but not limited to ideas, inventions, and/or documents, including but not limited to patent applications, patent and technical publications, and issued patents, it is important to include the use of the invention in analyses. For example, the use of the invention, generally described in the preamble of the independent claim, can be included in the cladistic analysis to ensure that inventions with similar uses are grouped more closely than ones with different uses.

Alternatively, if the use character is not used in the analyses, the resulting analyses will more closely group inventions with similar non-use characters without regard to the invention use. This analysis may be useful for studying convergent evolution of inventions. Similarly, if, in the case of an invention, the element is not used in the analysis, the resulting diagrammatic representation of the group of inventions will produce a more closely related group of inventions with similar elements.

Following is an outline of the basic steps necessary for completing a cladistic analysis of inventions.

1. Determine the characters (features of the invention) and perform a search of an invention database to determine the inventions with one or more of the characters.

2. Group inventions by their shared characteristics.

3. Build an invention cladogram of the groups.

Because essential functional characters generally must be recited in the claims of a patent, searching only the claims field of inventions versus searching the specification field generally results in less erroneous hits. The reduction of these “false positives” greatly reduces the burden of reading through the hits. In addition to the basic analysis outlined above, more complicated analyses can be performed prior to mapping the results.

Analytical Methods

For example, the following cladistics or phylogenetic analysis methods, including tree mapping methods, can be used to analyze the dataset, including at least one intellectual asset, invention, and/or document, including but not limited to patent applications, patent and technical publications, and patent applications: Parsimony methods such as Exhaustive, branch-and-bound and heuristic algorithms, Wagner, Fitch and Dollo characters, Bootstrap, strict and majority rule consensus trees, and Consistency and retention indices; Distance matrix methods; Computation of distances methods; Maximum likelihood methods; Quartets methods; Artificial-intelligence methods; Invariants, or Evolutionary Parsimony, methods; Bootstrapping and other measures of support; Compatibility analysis; Consensus trees and distances between trees; Tree-based alignment; Biogeographic analysis and host-parasite comparison; Comparative method analysis; Simulation of trees or data; Examination of shapes of trees; Clocks, dating and stratigraphy; Biostratigraphy with the methods of Unitary Associations and Ranking-Scaling, Description or prediction of data from trees; Tree plotting/drawing; and the like.

The results can be mapped using tree mapping methods. In the case of tree mapping analyses, the resulting maps are already mapped.

Artificial intelligence algorithms can also be used. For example, SOTA, a software package that runs a Self Organizing Tree Algorithm, is based on Kohonen's unsupervised neural network of self-organizing maps and on Fritzke's growthing cell structures algorithm to construct phylogenetic trees from biological molecular sequence data. It is described in a paper: Dopazo, J. and J. M. Carazo. 1997. Phylogenetic reconstruction using an unsupervised growing neural network that adopts the topology of a phylogenetic tree. Journal of Molecular Evolution 44a: 226-233. incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. SOTA can use sequence data, distance matrix data, or dipeptide frequencies from proteins. SOTA is available as source code in C for Unix, as executables for SGI workstations, and also with a Windows program called Drawer that draws the resulting trees.

Additionally, because the time component and dependency, which are the time of filing and the cited prior art, are known for inventions, that is, analyses such as invention rate can be computed using mutation rate analysis and mapping methods and invention dependency can be analyzed and mapped using host-parasite analysis and mapping methods.

Tree Types

Once the analyses and groupings have been performed, the results can be displayed in a tree format. Various tree shapes can be used to display the results, including Radial, Slanted cladogram, Rectangular cladogram, Phylogram, and the like.

Phylogram mapping is only available if the tree has branch lengths. Radial trees draw the tree as an unrooted tree radiating from a central point, as shown in FIG. 2. Branches are scaled by their length (if the tree has branch lengths); otherwise each branch has the same length. Some programs store information about the internal nodes as labels for those nodes. Examples include PHYLIP CONSENSE and CLUSTALW which store cluster or split frequencies in the tree description, although they do it differently: The PHYLIP CONSENSE program stores the frequency of groups in the consensus tree as edge lengths. CLUSTALW *.PHB files store bootstrap values as labels of the internal nodes of the tree.

A tree can be ordered such that “heavier” nodes (i.e., those with more descendants) are either drawn to the left or right.

A set of inventions can be defined as the outgroup, such that the tree can be rooted to the group.

Tree Representation

The “Newick 8:45” format is one format used to describe a tree. A brief description follows.

To write a tree description visit all the nodes in the tree, starting at the root, and follow these rules: If the node is a leaf (=terminal taxon) Write the node's label, then return to the node's immediate ancestor. If the branch leading to the leaf has a length, write a colon then the length immediately after the leaf label, e.g “human:0.0167”. If the node is an internal node: 1. If you're visiting the node for the first time, write a left parenthesis “(”, then visit the node's leftmost child. 2. If you've already visited the node before, but haven't yet visited all that node's descendants, write a comma “,”, then visit the next descendant of the node (going from left to right). 3. If you've already visited the node before, and you've visited all the node's descendants, write a right parenthesis “)”. If the node has a label (e.g. a bootstrap value) then write that label now, e.g. “)100”. If the branch leading to the node has a length, write a colon then the length immediately after the leaf label, e.g “):0.08”. and visit the node's immediate ancestor (if any). If the current node is the root then terminate the description with a semicolon “;” and stop. Here is a simple tree and the sequence of steps used to describe it. Applying the rules to this tree, the description evolves as follows: Step Tree description 1 (2 ((3 ((a 4 ((a, 5 ((a,b 6 ((a,b) 7 ((a,b), 8 ((a,b),(9 ((a,b),(c 10 ((a,b),(c, 11 ((a,b),(c,d 12 ((a,b),(c,d, 13 ((a,b),(c,d,e 14 ((a,b),(c,d,e) 15 ((a,b),(c,d,e)) 16 ((a,b),(c,d,e)); This tree is represented in FIG. 1.

Tree Manipulation

Branches can be moved for rerooting, polytomy formation, and rearranging the appearance of the tree. Some examples of these tree manipulations include:

-   -   collapsing a branch to produce a polytomy;     -   collapsing an internal branch to collapse the clade above that         branch;     -   clicking on a branch to reroot the tree on the branch.

The next four tools change the appearance of the tree in the window, but do not affect the cladistic topology:

Branch Rotation rotates the descendants of a binary node, so that the left descendant is now the right descendant, and visa-versa. You can only use this tool on binary internal nodes.

Branch Exchange, which interchanges pairs of branches, rearranges the descendants of a polytomy.

Ladderize left/right orders the subtree rooted at the branch clicked on so that the “heavier” nodes (those nodes with the largest clusters) appear leftmost/rightmost (uppermost/lowermost).

Branch Lengths

If the tree being viewed has branch lengths, and you are viewing the tree as either unrooted or as a phylogram, then the branch lengths can be drawn to scale. The units for this scale depend on those used to construct the tree. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, most tree-building programs output distances as numbers of substitutions per site. For such trees, some programs typically displays a scale of “0.1”, meaning 0.1 nucleotide substitutions per site. The actual value will depend on the branch lengths in the tree. Other trees, such as those computed using parsimony, may have integer branch lengths (i.e., 1, 5, 10), and hence the scale bar will be in units appropriate to the tree. For example, a value of “10” means 10 steps.

Evolutionary Distances

Evolutionary distance between a pair of sequences is usually measured by the number of nucleotide (or amino acid) substitutions between them. Evolutionary distances are fundamental for the study of molecular evolution and are useful for phylogenetic reconstruction and estimation of divergence times.

In MEGA, most of the widely used methods for distance estimation for nucleotide and amino acid sequences are included. In the following, a brief discussion of these methods is presented in three sections: nucleotide substitutions, synonymous-nonsynonymous substitutions, and amino acid substitutions. Further details of these methods and general guidelines for the use of these methods are given in Nei and Kumar (2000). Note that in addition to the distance estimates, MEGA2 also computes the standard errors of the estimates using the analytical formulas and the bootstrap method.

Nucleotide Sequences are compared nucleotide-by-nucleotide. These distances can be computed for protein coding and non-coding nucleotide sequences.

Synonymous & nonsynonymous Sequences are compared codon-by-codon. These distances can only be computed for protein-coding sequences or domains.

Amino acid Amino acid sequences are compared residue-by-residue. These distances can be computed for protein sequences and protein-coding nucleotide sequences. In the latter case, protein-coding nucleotide sequences are automatically translated using the selected genetic code table.

Distance methods included in MEGA are as follows: Nucleotide No. of differences p-distance Jukes-Cantor distance (with Gamma model) Tajima-Nei distance Kimura 2-parameter distance (with Gamma model) Tamura 3-parameter distance Tamura-Nei distance (with Gamma model) Syn-Nonsynonymous Nei-Gojobori Method Modified Nei-Gojobori Method Li-Wu-Luo Method Pamilo-Bianchi-Li Method Kumar Method Amino acid No. of differences p-distance Poisson correction Gamma distance

Bootstrap

The Bootstrap method computes standard error of distance estimates. When you choose the bootstrap method for estimating the standard error, you need to specify the number of replicates and the seed for the psuedorandom number generator. In each bootstrap replicate, the desired quantity will be estimated and then the standard deviation of the original values will be computed (see Nei and Kumar [2000], page 25 for details). It is possible that in some bootstrap replicates the quantity you desired is not calculable due to statistical or technical reasons. In this case, MEGA will discard the results of those bootstrap replicates and the final estimates will be based on the results of all the valid replicates. This means that the actual number of bootstrap replicates used can be smaller than the number specified by the user. However, if the number of valid bootstrap replicates is less than 25, then MEGA will report that the standard error cannot be computed (a n/c sign will appear in the result window).

DNA and RNA analysis programs, which are based on comparison using 4 character states—ATCG or AUCG, can still be used to analyze inventions, although only 2 character states per function will be used.

Examples of other analytical software packages that use these and other methods that can be used to map invention relationships:

Unix (source code in C or executables): PHYLIP; PAUP*; Fitch programs; Phylo_win ODEN TreeTree GCG Wisconsin Package SeqPup Lintre RSVP Microsat OSA TREE-PUZZLE AMP fastDNAml MOLPHY PAML SplitsTree PLATO STATGEOM PHYLTEST PARBOOT TreeAlign ClustalW MALIGN GeneDoc COMPARE TheSiminator Seq-Gen TreeTool GDE sog TreePack Phylodendron Treevolve and PTreevolve PSeq-Gen njbafd gmaes GCUA DERANGE2 LVB BIONJ TAAR ANCML QDate Bootscanning Package Ctree SOTA PASSML TOPAL reticulate RecPars ARB BIOSYS-2 RAPD-PCR package TreeCons Diversi DISTANCE Darwin sendbs partimatrix BAMBE nneighbor unrooted ROSE weighbor PhyloQuart QR2 VeryfastDNAml LARD puzzleboot Willson quartets programs POY RIND TipDate RRTree Fels-Rand PAL Mavric dnarates CLINCH UO Arlequin vCEBL TrExMl HY-PHY Genie Vanilla PHYCON qclust fastDNAmlRev RevDNArates BRANCHLENGTH TCS CONSEL

PC's as Windows executables: PHYLIP PAUP* Tree Gardener TREECON GDA SeqPup MOLPHY WET GeneDoc COMPONENT TREEMAP COMPARE RAPDistance TreeView Phylodendron Molecular Analyst Fingerprinting POPGENE TFPGA Ctree GeneTree MVSP RSTCALC Genetix NJplot unrooted Arlequin DAMBE DnaSP PAML LVB DNASIS minspnet BioEdit ProSeq RRTree Fels-Rand PAL WINCLADA SECANT Nona DNASEP SEPAL Phylogenetic Independence vCEBL HY-PHY TreeExplorer Genie Vanilla MEGA TNT GelCompar II Bionumerics TCS

DOS executable (MSDOS, PCDOS) or in a Windows “DOS box”: PHYLIP PAUP* MEGA Fitch programs Hennig86 MEGA RA Nona TurboTree Freqpars Fitch programs TREECON Microsat DISPAN RESTSITE NTSYSpc METREE Hadtree, Prepare and Trees PHYLTEST RAPDistance DIPLOMO TREE-PUZZLE ABLE ClustalW MALIGN GeneDoc COMPARE CMAP Random Cladistics CoSta njbafd GEOMETRY PDAP PICA95 REDCON TAXEQ2 BIONJ ANCML REAP MVSP Lintre BIOSYS-2 RAPD-PCR package Diversi T-REX sendbs K2WuLi homoplasy test weighbor POY TreeDis QUARTET2 Network CLINCH Gambit MEAWILK qclust CONSEL

Macintosh or PowerMac executables: PHYLIP PAUP* CAFCA MacT TreeTree SeqPup Microsat TREE-PUZZLE fastDNAml MacClade Spectrum SplitsTree PLATO AutoDecay RASA ClustalW TREEMAP CAIC COMPARE PA Bi-De SEQEVOLVE TheSiminator Seq-Gen End-Epi StratCon CONSERVE TreeView NJplot DendroMaker MUST DNA Stacks Phylogenetic Investigator Tree Draw Deck Phylodendron TreeRot Treevolve and PTreevolve PSeq-Gen Molecular Analyst Fingerprinting BIONJ GCUA ACAP GeneTree QDate LVB T-REX unrooted GeneStrut COMPONENT Lite weighbor Modeltest PAML LARD MATRIX Willson quartets programs ALIGN CodonBootstrap DNASIS TipDate RRTree MacroCAIC Fels-Rand PAL RadCon TreeEdit Arlequin vCEBL HY-PHY TreeThief Genie Sequencer Vanilla TCS MrBayes

VMS executables or C sources with VMS compilation support: PHYLIP MARKOV TREE-PUZZLE fastDNAml TreeAlign ClustalW

EXAMPLE

An example of an analysis with mapping of the results follows:

A described invention was determined to have the following key characters: N-methyl-D-aspartate (nmda); neurotransmitter; and glycine. The N-methyl-D-aspartate AND nmda was used for N-methyl-D-aspartate and the wordstem neurotransmi# was used for the keyword neurotransmitter. Boolean searches of the USPTO database were performed with these words. The first search was performed requiring all characters to exist in the claims field. The resulting dataset had 6 positives, denoted as “ALL” and listed in Table 1. Successive searches were performed by sequentially applying the ANDNOT Boolean modifier to each element in the first search. The results of each search are denoted as NOT glycine, NOT neurotransmi#, and NOT NMDA and shown in Tables 2, 3, and 4, respectively. The datasets were imported into a database and organized into a character matrix. The matrix was analyzed by heuristic analysis and the resulting tree mapped using tree mapping methods. The result is shown in FIG. 3.

TABLE 1 Results of Search in 1976 to present db for: (((ACLM/nmda OR ACLM/N-methyl-D-aspartate) AND ACLM/neurotransmi$) AND ACLM/glycine): 6 patents. Hits 1 through 6 out of 6 Pat. No. Title 1 6,395,780 Cleavage system inhibitors as potential antipsychotics 2 6,355,681 Glycine substitutes and precursors for treating a psychosis 3 6,228,875 Methods for treating neuropsychiatric disorders 4 5,854,286 Treatment of negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia with glycine and its precursors 5 5,837,730 Treatment of negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia with glycine uptake antagonists 6 5,668,117 Methods of treating neurological diseases and etiologically related symptomology using carbonyl trapping agents in combination with previously known medicaments

TABLE 2 Results of Search in 1976 to present db for: (((ACLM/nmda OR ACLM/N-methyl-D-aspartate) AND ACLM/neurotransmi$) ANDNOT ACLM/glycine): 10 patents. Hits 1 through 10 out of 10 Pat. No. Title 1 6,420,351 Methods for treating neuropsychiatric disorders 2 6,391,922 Treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive- compulsive disorder and related neuropsychiatric disorders 3 6,391,871 Preventing neuronal degeneration in Alzheimer's disease 4 6,294,583 Methods of treating tardive dyskinesia and other movement disorders 5 6,057,373 Methods of treating tardive dyskinesia and other movement disorders using NMDA receptor antagonists 6 5,804,550 Peptide antagonists at glutamate and NMDA receptors 7 5,648,369 Aminoalkylpyridine compounds which are useful as anitconvulsant drugs, excitatory amino acid inhibitors and NMDA sigma receptor antagonists 8 5,641,798 Bicyclic compounds and their use as excitatory amino acid receptor antagonists 9 5,576,323 Excitatory amino acid receptor antagonists 10 5,356,902 Decahydroisoquinoline compounds as excitatory amino acid receptor antagonists

TABLE 3 Results of Search in 1976 to present db for: (((ACLM/nmda OR ACLM/N-methyl-D-aspartate) AND ACLM/glycine) ANDNOT ACLM/neurotransmi$): 33 patents. Hits 1 through 33 out of 33 Pat. No. Title 1 6,511,963 Allosteric modulators of the NMDA receptor and their use in the treatment of CNS disorders and enhancement of CNS function 2 6,482,854 Glaucoma treatment 3 6,413,985 Tetrahydroquinoline derivatives as glycine antagonists 4 6,362,226 Modulation of in vivo glutamine and glycine levels in the treatment of autism 5 6,362,199 Tetrahydroquinoline derivatives as glycine antagonists 6 6,284,731 Allosteric modulators of the NMDA receptor and their use in the treatment of CNS disorders and enhancement of CNS function 7 6,107,296 Neuroprotective use of triazolo- pyridazine derivatives 8 6,107,271 Neuroactive peptides 9 6,080,743 2,3-dioxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro- quinoxalinyl derivatives 10 6,063,774 Tricyclic quinoxaline derivatives as neuroprotective agents 11 6,025,369 N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor blockers for the prevention of atherosclerosis 12 6,017,957 Partial agonists of the strychnine insensitive glycine modulatory site of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor complex as neuropsychopharma- cological agents 13 5,942,540 Methods of providing symptomatic and prophylactic neuroprotection 14 5,856,335 Substituted aminothienopyridines, pharmaceutical composition and use 15 5,834,465 Treatment with combined NMDA and non- NMDA antagonists to reduce excitotoxic CNS damage 16 5,760,059 Indole derivatives 17 5,728,728 Methods of providing neuroprotection 18 5,646,146 Heterocyclic compounds and their preparation and use 19 5,633,379 3-heteroaliphatyl- and 3- hetero(aryl)aliphatyl-2(1H)-quinolone derivatives 20 5,620,979 Glycine receptor antagonists and the use thereof 21 5,614,509 Pharmaceutical agents for preventing the development of tolerance during the treatment with benzodiazepine- receptor-binding active ingredients 22 5,576,436 Fluorescent ligands 23 5,523,323 Use of partial agonists of the NMDA receptor to reduce opiate induced tolerance and dependence 24 5,514,680 Glycine receptor antagonists and the use thereof 25 5,506,231 Treatment of aids dementia, myelopathy and blindness 26 5,474,990 Barbiturates as safening agents in conjunction with NMDA antagonists 27 5,468,748 9H-indeno[1,2-b]pyrazine derivatives 28 5,434,295 Neuroprotective pharmaceutical compositions of 4-phenylpinene derivatives and certain novel 4-phenylpinene compounds 29 5,256,690 Method for treating and controlling the symptoms of neurodegenerative disease and neuropsychopharmacological disorders 30 5,240,946 ((2-(amino-3,4-dioxo-1-cyclobuten-1- yl)amino)alkyl)-acid derivatives 31 5,212,167 Modulation of receptor-mediated ion transport 32 5,166,155 Quinoxaline-2,3-dione compounds and their preparation and use 33 5,086,072 Treatment of mood disorders with functional antagonists of the glycine/NMDA receptor complex

TABLE 4 Results of Search in 1976 to present db for: ((ACLM/glycine AND ACLM/neurotransmi$) ANDNOT (ACLM/nmda OR ACLM/N-methyl-D-aspartate)): 10 patents. Hits 1 through 10 out of 10 Pat. No. Title 1 6,287,254 Animal health diagnosis 2 6,251,280 Imprint-coating synthesis of selective functionalized ordered mesoporous sorbents for separation and sensors 3 6,106,858 Modulation of drug loading in multivescular liposomes 4 5,938,903 Microelectrodes and their use in an electrochemical arrangement with telemetric application 5 5,750,376 In vitro growth and proliferation of genetically modified multipotent neural stem cells and their progeny 6 5,587,509 Caged caboxyl compounds and use thereof 7 5,519,032 Substituted aminothienopyridines, pharmaceutical composition and use 8 5,498,626 Acylaminoindole derivatives as 5-ht1 agonists 9 5,424,185 Human high-affinity neurotransmitter uptake system 10 5,225,323 Human high-affinity neurotransmitter uptake system FIGS. 3 and 4 represent clear and detailed views of inventions that have the same characters as the described invention, represented in the ALL group, and inventions groups that are missing only one character of the search characters. These second groups are described as being one functional character away, evolutionarily speaking, and are potentially nearest synapomorphic competitors. Such a clear and succinct view is very useful to person needing to analyze many search results. Additionally, the graph of the search results linked to the search datasets can be visually projected to facilitate discussion by a group of people more easily than by using text only.

As best seen in FIG. 5, a flowchart of a method for invention or technology analysis according to the present invention includes the steps of invention deconstruction, database queries formulation, queries submission, results retrieval, and results display.

1. Invention Deconstruction

The invention or entity deconstruction step deconstructs an invention into key components. These key components are those that can be used to distinguish the invention from the prior art. Key components may include such things as physical features, feature location, benefit conferred by a feature, and the like. The field of the invention or the name of the invention may also be included as a key component.

2. Mapping Methods or Query Formulation

The mapping methods herein described segregate a technology or invention field into sub-fields by serial exclusion of key components from queries. The results are kept segregated and displayed as sub-fields. The mapping methods use the key components identified in the deconstruction step to form multiple combinatorial component queries. This mapping, herein termed combinatorial component exclusion mapping, is performed by formulating multiple database queries from the key components identified in the deconstruction step by using combinatorial component exclusion. These combinatorial queries include a first query that searches for all the components in the desired database field, termed the “niche” or “ALL” query, and a series of “neighborhood” queries formed by serial exclusion of at least one component from the query strings. An example follows.

An invention was described as being a contact lens coated with the antimicrobial lactoferrin. The key components of this invention were determined to be a contact lens, lactoferrin, and a coating. Note that the first component is the invention, the second is a physical feature, and the third is the location of the physical feature. These key components are expanded to include synonyms and word stems and are then used to formulate queries according to the present invention. The queries resulting from these components are:

TABLE 5 Unique combinatorial search strings for 3 components. Query type Search strings Niche (ALL - A AND B AND C) “contact lens” AND lactoferrin AND (coat$ or surface) Neighborhood 2 (A AND B NOT C) “contact lens” AND lactoferrin NOT (coat$ or surface) Neighborhood 3 (A NOT B AND C) “contact lens” NOT lactoferrin AND (coat$ or surface) Neighborhood 4 (NOT A AND B AND C) NOT “contact lens” AND lactoferrin AND (coat$ or surface)

Advantages of Combinatorial Component Exclusion Mapping

Combinatorial component exclusion mapping offers several advantages over the prior art. The mapping is simultaneously precise and thorough. The mapping is precise because the niche group will generally contain the records most like the present invention. The mapping is thorough because adjacent technology fields that contain closely related prior art are also mapped and can be searched. The process is easily supervised because the mapping method is predetermined—the supervisor simply has to determine whether the examiner has identified the proper key components for the mapping and has expanded them correctly and thoroughly.

The method also minimizes in several ways the number of records that an examiner must review to perform a precise and thorough examination. The examiner can look at the niche group to quickly determine if the prior art anticipates or obviates the invention. The examiner can next go to the neighborhood most likely to contain anticipating or obviating art. Knowing which components are missing in a neighborhood prepares the reviewer to look for records that will make the examined invention obvious when reviewing the neighborhoods.

Another advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention is the use of ANDNOT exclusion to eliminate overlap. Without the ANDNOT exclusion, the examiner would re-review the ALL group when reviewing each of the neighborhoods. The benefit of the ANDNOT exclusion increases when simultaneously excluding multiple components.

The multiple search strings generated according to the present invention are preferably automatically generated by a computer system.

3. The Search Strings are Submitted to at Least One Database Query Engine for Querying at Least One Database.

The submission to the at least one database query engine is preferably automated and performed by a computer system. The automated query generation and submission facilitates the method and reduces the possibility of error. An example of an automated interface is shown in FIG. 6.

4. Results Retrieval.

Preferably, the results are initially displayed as a summary or sounding page, showing the number of hits for each query in each database queried. An example of a sounding page is shown in FIG. 7. In this example, the user sees that the niche search shown in the first row produced 23 hit in the Publications database and 40 hits in the Patents database.

The user next retrieves preferably only the information needed. There are preferably at least two levels of retrieval. In the present example, by selecting a box in the sounding view from the first level, shown under columns “Pubs1” and “Pats1”, the user retrieves only the grant/application number and title. The user can then link to the hits through the icon beside each box to get the hits screen, as shown in FIG. 8, as is commonly done on search engines. In addition to showing the number and title of each hit, the user can link through the Patent title to retrieve the patent from the USPTO or local database and can also launch the Patent Matrix software and import the claims from the USPTO by clicking on the software launching link beside each title.

By selecting a box under the columns “Pubs2” or “Pats2”, the user directs the system to retrieve relevant bibliographic and content information, such as the abstract, priority cross-reference data (CIP column), assignee information, inventor information, Issue date, filing date, publication date, contact information, and the like.

5. Results Display for Examination and Analysis.

The results can be displayed in several formats. A spreadsheet layout, can be used. Additionally or alternatively, a tree diagram layout can be used.

The spreadsheet layout, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, preferably has separate sheets for each query result; each sheet preferably having at least one column for predetermined database fields and rows for the records retrieved. This format allows for the rapid review of records. This layout also allows for sorting the array by columns, such that reviewer can prioritize records according to one or more of the database fields.

The results displays also preferably incorporate information in mouse-over, or hover, pop-ups. These can be data which are too large to be reasonably displayed on the spreadsheet, but are immediately desirable to be viewed once the viewer would like to examine a record in more detail.

For example, the abstract can be inserted in a rollover box in the title and the priority cross-reference data can be inserted in a rollover box in the CIP status (YES/NO), as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, respectively. The claims can also be extracted from the patent and shown in a rollover box. For example, the first independent claim can be inserted into the rollover box when the user hovers over a button that hyperlinks to or launches a patent matrix diagram of the patent, shown as “PMD” in FIGS. 9 and 10. The presentation of the first independent claim allows the user to rapidly screen grants/applications for relevance by minimizing click-through to other pages and thereby staying on the same page view.

6. Classification, Notes.

The user can then select and/or flag documents based on their examination criteria. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, the user interface contains 3 columns named “102”, “103”, and “Cited/NRO”. These denominations are used for patent examination by the patent office to classify prior art references as providing anticipation (102) or obviousness (103) or “cited but not relied upon” to an application under examination.

The Tree Diagram Layout According to Another Embodiment of the Present Invention

The tree diagram layout displays all of the results from the mapping in a single diagram. This format allows for an overview of the field and conveys a sense of the density of the prior art. The tree diagrams can be rooted or unrooted. The prior described search was rerun limiting the components to the claims database field to reduce the number of records for display purposes. The results were mapped in an unrooted tree diagram, shown in FIG. 12. Shown are the four groups—the niche and immediately adjacent neighborhoods. Each of the records is displayed in the group; the label for each record at the end of a spoke radiating from hub. In this view the patents and pregrant publications are group in a single hub. The resolution of each hub can be increased by expanding the hub, as shown in FIG. 13. In FIG. 13, the pointer is also hovering over content item or U.S. Pat. No. 6,565,861 and relevant patent information, as previously discussed herein, is displayed in a pop-up window. Notes and other information added during examination can also be displayed, as shown for this record.

7. Preprogrammed Searches

Niche and Neighborhood Search

The simplest search is a “niche-and-neighborhood” search, shown previously. In this search, each component is “excluded” from the search string using the ANDNOT boolean operator. This use of the ANDNOT also prevents redundancy in the search results. Simply omitting a component, a component omission exclusion, would results in the inventions that have all the components (ALL group) showing up again in all the neighborhoods.

Teaching Specification Search

A teaching specification search is designed to assist in quickly screening patents for obviousness. Obviousness here refers to the criteria used by the Patent Offices.

In a Teaching specification search, the components are inputted into the search screen as before, and the components' are automatically delimited to the claims field. The software automatically generates the specific neighborhood search strings, which are designed to exclude the patents with the component in the claims, but include patents with the component in the specification. These strings are shown in the “Permutation” column in FIG. 14. An example string for a neighborhood is:

-   -   aclm/“contact lens” AND aclm/lactoferrin NOT aclm/(coat$ or         surface) AND spec/(coat$ or surface).

In this string/neighborhood, grants/applications with coat$ or surface in the claims are excluded, while grants/applications with coat$ or surface not in the claims but in the specification are included.

Note that the permutation are similar to the Niche/Neighborhood search, except that when a component is removed (ANDNOT) from the search in the claims field (aclm/ . . . ); it is added to the search in the specification field (spec/ . . . ). These groups of patents are ones that do not specifically claim the component, but do teach the component in some way in the specification. Therefore, it may be obvious to add this taught component to the prior art and create a new invention.

Note the reduced number of patents in the neighborhoods with respect to the search shown in FIG. 14. This reduction in number reduces the workload for a user examining an invention for obviousness or anticipation if a quick elimination can be made based on anticipation or obviousness.

Combinatorial Searches

Combinatorial searches are designed to break a technology field into multiple niches based on key components or technologies. They are an extension of the Niche/Neighborhood searches. For example, if the key components to be examined were a) contact lens b) lactoferrin and c) coating, the possible unique combinatorial searches would be 7, as shown in Table 6.

TABLE 6 Unique combinatorial search strings for 3 components. Search # Search strings 1 (ALL) a AND b AND c 2 a AND b ANDNOT c 3 a ANDNOT b AND c 4 b AND c ANDNOT a 5 a ANDNOT b ANDNOT c 6 b ANDNOT c ANDNOT a 7 c ANDNOT b ANDNOT a

For 3 components there are 7 combinatorial search strings. For 4 components there are 15 possible unique strings and for 5 components there are 31 possible unique strings. The results are mapped for visual display. A combinatorial search can be exhaustive, that is, every unique combination is submitted. This analysis is called an Exhaustive Combinatorial Search.

Sometimes the search strings with only a single component return a large number of meaningless hits. For example, searches 5, 6, and 7 in Table 6 may produce a large number of hits that are too burdensome and have too little meaning to be examined by the user. In these cases, a Proximal Combinatorial Search is used. This search generates strings only out to double component strings. That is, the strings with only a single component, such as strings 5, 6, and 7 above, are not generated. In the case of a 3-component system, the number of search strings is the same as for a Niche/Neighborhood analysis. For a 4-component system, however, there will be 11 strings for a Proximal Combinatorial search, versus 5 for a Niche/Neighborhood analysis and 15 for an Exhaustive Combinatorial Search. For a 5 components system, the Proximal Combinatorial Search will generate 26 search strings versus 6 for a Niche/Neighborhood analysis. Table 7 illustrates the different number of groups generated by each search for a given number of components.

TABLE 7 Niche/Neighborhood Compo- OR Teaching Proximal Exhaustive nents specification search Combinatorial Combinatorial 3 4 4 7 4 5 11 15 5 6 26 31 6 7 57 63 7 8 120 127 Set Subtraction

Differential combinations of these searches can also be performed. For example, the user can perform a Niche-and-Neighborhood minus a Teaching specification search or vice-versus, or a Combinatorial search minus a Niche-and-Neighborhood or Teaching specification search. The ability to subtract the results of one search from another allows the user to progress through the search types with the same components without having to re-review records already reviewed in a previous search.

Trends Analysis

A system according to the present inventions also provides analyses of trends in the searched technology fields. These trends analyses, also called growth, flux or invention rate analyses, include analyses such as the Publication/patent ratio; Publication and/or patent trend, such as Publications/unit time, Date difference between neighboring publications; Art unit or examination density or latency, such as Filing-to-issuance time period, Issuance/Publication ratio; Technology field analyses, such as Emigration/Immigration of assignees/inventors, Technology field lifecycle analyses; and Date-based analyses, such as patent flux and parsing into time intervals.

Growth analyses, which may also be termed flux analyses or invention rate, are metrics used to determine the absolute and relative rate of new patent applications in a particular area, such as a niche, neighborhood, classification or similar area.

A preferred growth analysis is the publication/patent ratio, shown in the “Ratio” column in FIGS. 8 and 9. In this analysis, the number of publication for a defined area is divided by the number of issued patents for the area to give the ratio. The number can be converted to a percentage, if desired. This ratio is an indication of the growth, since an area only grows by submission of new applications.

Another type of growth analysis is the applications and/or patent trend analysis, which is the number of applications or patents/unit time. This metric can be displayed as an absolute number, polynomial function to show change, or as a graph.

Another Patent trend analysis is the date difference between neighboring publications. This computation shows activity peaks and trends. For example, if this metric is decreasing with time, then patent applications are increasing in the analyzed area.

Examination latency analysis is another useful metric. This analysis is performed for an area by calculating the filing-to-issuance time period for patents in the area, the reasoning being that more mature technology areas will require longer prosecution prior to issuance and therefore will have a longer filing-to-issuance period. The issuance/publication ratio can be used as a similar metric. This analysis is performed by dividing the patents issued in a time period by the patent applications in a time period. The time periods can be the same, or can be different. For example, if the earliest and latest filing dates for the issued patents in the patent time period is known, the applications time period can be the time period between the two filing dates.

Another indicator of the growth and/or maturity status of an area is the emigration/immigration of assignees and/or inventors into and out of the area.

Date-based growth analyses may also be performed. For example, the distance between neighboring grants/applications can be computed, for example based on the filing date. Alternatively or additionally, for patent systems with serially numbered patents, the difference between patent numbers may be used. The grants/applications may also be parsed into time intervals, and graphed or converted to a polynomial to demonstrate growth.

Certain modifications and improvements will occur to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the foregoing description. By way of example, the diagrams may be produced in a variety of forms and formats without departing from the scope of the present invention. Also, the software used to generate the diagrams may vary widely; any examples provided herein are for the purpose of illustrating the present invention using commercially available software. Additionally, the methods and systems of the present invention may apply to searching and analysis of various types of content in databases. All modifications and improvements have been deleted herein for the sake of conciseness and readability but are properly within the scope of the following claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of analyzing technologies, comprising the steps of: a) providing a computer system comprising at least one database having technology information electronically stored thereon and at least one computer running software for querying the database and connected to the database, either directly or via a network; b) deconstructing at least one technology into a set of corresponding functional key components by selecting words describing a physical feature, the feature location, and/or a benefit conferred by the feature; c) the computer formulating a set of non-overlapping queries from the set of functional key components wherein the set of queries comprises a first query for searching a database for all of the functional key components and additional related database queries that each exclude at least one of the functional key components from the first query wherein the at least one additional related database query is a Boolean permutation of the first query; the set of queries selected from the group of niche and neighborhood search, teaching specification search, and combinatorial search; d) the computer submitting the set of queries to search a database; e) the computer retrieving a listing of query results from the set of queries; f) the computer automatically transforming the listing into a diagram; wherein the diagram is selected from the group of radial tree diagram, slanted cladogram, rectangular cladogram, and phylogram; g) the computer analyzing the results with analyses to produce analysis results, the analyses selected from the group of publication/patent ratio, publications/unit time, filing-to-issuance time period, issuance/publication ratio; emigration/immigration of assignees/inventors, patent flux and parsing into time intervals, applications or patents/unit time, date difference between neighboring publications, and examination latency; h) the computer automatically displaying the query results and the analyses results in a graphical user interface of an electronic device or network of devices, wherein the radial tree diagram includes hubs representing each of the groups and hub spokes extending radially from the hubs to individual documents within each of the groups, and wherein the resolution of each hub can be increased by expanding the hub; thereby providing a method for automatically analyzing technologies.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the set of queries further comprises a query that includes all of the key components such that the results include records that each include or exclude all of the key components.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the set of queries search the database by searching database fields that are predetermined by a user.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the results are presented to a user in a graphical user interface on an electronic display.
 5. The method according to claim 1, further including a step of analyzing the results using cladistics.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the displaying of the results includes a diagrammatic representation of the results, which are grouped according to cladistics methods wherein each group includes results having the same key components as specified in each query.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the display step comprises parsing the records into an array, wherein the array is record versus database fields.
 8. The method of claim 7, further including the step of incorporating large database fields as pop-ups into smaller database fields in the array.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the serial exclusion is an ANDNOT exclusion.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of formulating related database queries with serial exclusion of at least two components.
 11. The method of claim 1, further including the step of incorporating information as pop-ups into diagram features.
 12. The method of claim 1, further including the step of expanding a hub spoke with respect to the original presentation to facilitate examination.
 13. The method of claim 1, further including automated search string generation.
 14. The method of claim 1, further including automated query submission. 